[Ads-l] Long-haul trucker's lexicon + a surprise

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jun 2 02:14:00 UTC 2017


On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 9:22 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/books/review-long-haul-
> trucker-memoir-finn-murphy.html
>
> This is Jennifer Senior's review of a book by Finn Murphy, a long haul
> trucker who reads both Chinese and Jane Austen.  The review touches on
> various specialized lexical items of the trade Finn wields, several of
> which are old hat even to inveterate non-truckers like me (“deadheading”,
> “suicide jockey”), some not so much (“bedbugger”, “chowder”).  You’ll have
> to read the review to find out what they are.  But my favorite bit, in the
> light of our recent thread:
>
> =============
> Nor will I think about the fact that movers sometimes inspect the contents
> of your boudoir. Murphy’s recommendation: “Salt the lingerie drawer with
> plastic snakes or a loaded mousetrap.” (Who says the vagina dentata is a
> myth?)
> =============
>
> I can only assume that Ms. Senior has been dipping into our list.
>

https://twitter.com/JenSeniorNY/status/870275595095224324
"I slipped 'vagina dentata' into the New York Times today. My work here is
done."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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